This invention relates to warp knitted fabrics and more particularly to a method of knitting the fabrics with elastomeric and nonelastomeric threads to produce surface interest.
Basic warp knitting to which this invention applies comprises knitting on (e.g. tricot or Raschel) warp knit machines and when knitting fabrics of elastomeric and nonelastomeric basically two stitch constructions are used with the elastomeric yarn. They are: (1) a closed loop stitch construction on a tricot machine as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,069,895 and (2) a laid-in stitch construction on a Raschel machine as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,552,154. Fabrics made using these stitch constructions with elastomeric yarns are characterized by smooth surfaces with no surface interest. The prior art includes many techniques for forming surface patterns in warp knitted fabrics but these known techniques involve complicated variation in stitch patterns, the laying in of extra ends in pattern forming arrays or like complications which diminish productivity and add to the fabric cost.